Steel coils generally come in a dimension ranging from 3 feet to 8 feet in length and from 2 feet to 6 feet in diameter. Each coil has a weight in the range of 25,000 to 40,000 pounds per coil and on a 48 foot trailer, with the proper configuration of wheels, the pay load could be 90,000 pounds. This could translate into approximately 3 coils per trailer. The coils are sometimes transported substantial distances over public roads. Road accidents and other reasons can cause a truck to stop suddenly and in recent months there has been a substantial increase in accidents where the coils being transported have left the bed of the truck during transport and in some cases have caused fatalities. In the event of a sudden unexpected stop the cargo coils, i.e. cargo pieces, can become a multi-ton sliding or rolling object and obviously can cause considerable damage to anything in its path before coming to rest.
Chocks for anchoring pieces of cargo during transport are known as exemplified by the teachings of U.S. Pat. No. 3,110,361 issued Nov. 12, 1963 to L. Hirsch, Canadian Patent 1,177,331 issued Nov. 6, 1984 to RUD-Kettenbabrik Rieger & Dietz GmbH and Canadian Patent 1,041,372 issued Oct. 31, 1978 to Transco Inc.
To applicant's knowledge there are no known proposals for ensuring the safety of transport of coils of steel because the problem has originated only recently stemming from deregulation in the trucking industry and poor driver training by transport companies which do not generally transport coils but due to an economic recession and/or competition in the trade find themselves doing so.